Individuals and enterprises use computing systems and applications extensively to generate and exchange digital data for organizing their activities effectively and efficiently. Different applications used by the individuals and enterprises may include, but are not limited to, word processors, web browsers, portable document format viewers, multimedia applications, and email clients. Data presented to or available from the different applications may include data that is private to a user, for example, usernames, passwords, credit/debit card details, bank account details, data relating to financial transactions, contacts, electronic mails, photos, and official data that may be present on the computing system.
Attacks which exploit vulnerabilities of the computing system's application or platform expose the data stored in the computing system to an attacker that may lead to data security risk. Data security risk includes data exfiltration and data loss. Data exfiltration includes unauthorized copying, transfer, or retrieval of data from the computing system. Therefore, exfiltration of the data may lead to consequences, such as identity theft, financial and non-financial risks, and reputation damage to the individuals and enterprises. Further, data on being exposed to the attacker may be removed from the computing system by the attacker which may cause loss of the data from the computing system leading to data loss. Hence, the data is secured in order to guard the computing system from the data security risk.